Realistic Assessment

According to a report by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI): In the 2023 PCI Provincial Competitiveness Index ranking report, Nam Dinh achieved a total score of 66.67 points, an increase of 1.38 points compared to the previous year; placing it in the group of provinces with average scores nationwide (66.66 points).

Compared to 2022, six out of ten component indices (CSTP) have increased. Among them, the most improved index is Time Cost, reaching 8.32 points (an increase of 0.92 points), higher than the national average score (7.74 points).

Business activities at Bao Minh Industrial Park, Nam Dinh Province (Photo: V.D)

This is also the highest-scoring index among the province's ten component indices. Positive changes can be clearly seen in the high proportion of enterprises noting: General quality of administrative procedure resolution is high, state officials efficiently and friendly handle tasks, businesses do not have to travel multiple times to complete paperwork, procedures are simple, fees and charges are publicly listed, administrative procedure resolution time is shortened compared to regulations.

Many enterprises also highly appreciate the efforts of authorities at all levels in promoting digital transformation to handle administrative procedures online, helping to reduce time and costs compared to the previous paper-based method; the proportion of businesses facing difficulties when implementing online administrative procedures has increased; the burden of inspections has also decreased for businesses. The proportion of enterprises reflecting many annoyances in 2023 was lower than two years ago, with the most impressive decrease in the tax and fee sector.

The Market Entry CSTP of the province reached 7.21 points (an increase of 0.18 points). The survey results show that enterprises entering the market find it more favorable with positively improved criteria such as transparency, clear and complete guidance, knowledgeable and enthusiastic officials, friendly demeanor; the number of businesses that had to amend their profiles when registering decreased in the 2023 survey; the handling of conditional business registration procedures in 2023 also saw progress compared to 2022.

However, in the future, the province needs to continue to cut down on impractical business conditions, abolish unnecessary certificates, streamline redundant certificate types... The Dynamic Governance CSTP of the province reached 7.07 points, an increase of 0.23 points, in the context where many provinces and cities nationwide are evaluated as needing to reinvigorate the pioneering spirit of local government officials.

Most surveyed enterprises believe that the leadership of Nam Dinh province has taken action to fulfill its commitments to improving its business environment; at the same time, they highly appreciate the province's flexibility within the legal framework to create a favorable business environment for private enterprises; the province is dynamic and creative in addressing emerging issues; businesses observe that the provincial government has a positive attitude towards the private sector; difficulties and obstacles are promptly resolved through dialogues, contacts with enterprises in the province; the provincial government has a positive attitude towards the private sector.

Many enterprises highly appreciate the digital transformation and online administrative procedure resolution efforts of provincial government agencies, which help to reduce time and costs (Photo: Nam Dinh Newspaper).

Decisive leadership

Recently, many enterprises also highly appreciate the transparency in the province's bidding activities; the information on the province's website regarding administrative procedure regulations, executive documents, provincial leadership directives, provincial legal documents, and investment incentives/encouragement/support provides many benefits to enterprises. However, enterprises do not frequently access the provincial People's Committee website.

Additionally, the province has 4 out of 10 CSTPs with decreased scores: Legal Framework and Public Order CSTP scored 8.10 points, a decrease of 0.34 points. Despite the score decrease, this is the second highest-scoring component index of the province and significantly higher than the general average score of countries (7.47 points). Enterprises assess the local public order situation positively and highly rate the law enforcement capacity and protection of the law regarding business-related issues, including economic litigation...

Next is the Land Access CSTP, which scored 7.19 points, a decrease of 0.38 points, lower than the national average score (8.76 points). This result indicates an increasing barrier in land access, consistent with the index regarding the proportion of enterprises reporting land-related annoyances. The main difficulties that enterprises encountered in 2023 were longer processing times for land documents compared to the deadlines stipulated in regulations.

Most concerning is group 2 CSTPs, which not only decreased in score but also had low scores: Business Support Policies CSTP scored 5.42 points, a decrease of 0.52 points, the highest decrease among the province's CSTPs. However, many enterprises hope that government agencies will enhance information provision and support, guidance to make it even more convenient for enterprises to implement documents enforcing free trade agreements (FTAs). The province's Equal Competition CSTP scored 4.17 points (a decrease of 0.14 points), indicating a declining trend in business environment equality; notably, this is the lowest-scoring CSTP among the 10 CSTPs.

Rang Dong Textile Industrial Park (Aurora IP), located in Rang Dong town (Nghia Hung), covering an area of nearly 520 hectares (Photo: Viet Du).

Accordingly, small and medium-sized enterprises hope that the province will prioritize further support activities to address difficulties and obstacles arising during the production and consumption of products; creating more favorable conditions in accessing information, land, and exempting/reducing corporate income tax...

The 2023 PCI ranking report also emphasizes that many provinces in the following group are emerging strongly, showing more breakthroughs than pushing some provinces and cities that have been in the "top" 30 for many years down the PCI ranking. This indicates that, with more determined efforts, Nam Dinh can certainly improve and enhance the PCI index.

To ensure that the component indices in the PCI index continue to be substantial, in the past period, the Nam Dinh Provincial People's Committee has taken resolute measures such as clearly assigning responsibilities to departments, sectors, and localities for each component index of the PCI.

According to the leadership of Nam Dinh province: Analyzing the above component indices, the province directs straightforwardly to recognize and evaluate shortcomings and limitations. In the future, government levels and functional agencies need to intensify and implement more substantial efforts to reform, improve service quality, and satisfaction of people and enterprises, promoting the establishment of a favorable business environment.

The province directs government levels and functional agencies to closely follow the needs and expectations of enterprises to have practical and effective support programs and solutions for business development. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to learning from the experiences and innovative solutions of provinces and cities that rank high in the PCI ranking.

In the context where most provinces and cities are striving to improve and rise strongly in the national ranking, Nam Dinh has straightforwardly recognized and evaluated each CSTP, thereby more resolutely improving the quality of the PCI index.